Editors ́ Picks

Five million shielded from deportation by immigration reforms

US President Obama has announced an executive action, enacting huge immigration reforms which will see almost five million undocumented migrants protected from deportation.

The reforms will also give undocumented migrants who are parents of US citizens the opportunity to apply for work permits.

Taking his usual rhetoric approach, Obama stressed that Americans “are and always will be immigrants”.

“Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law?” he asked. “Are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents’ arms?”

The rousing, emotional speech announced what will be one of the president’s boldest moves during his time in office.

But it does, of course, face pushback from Republicans, who are divided on their answer to undocumented migration.

While many Democrats rejoice, some analysts remain skeptical of the real meaning of Obama’s speech.

Megan McArdle on Bloomberg View posited that “he was supposed to be explaining his actions to regularize the status of millions of undocumented immigrants; what he delivered was a festival of glorious nonsense.”

So will Obama’s bold statements be carried out with policy? Only time will tell.

20.Nov

November 20th, 2014

There's always room for refugees

EDITOR:

Murat Suner

One can consider José Mujica a radical person in many ways. He turned from a guerrilla to a peace driven statesman, preferred a modest farm to the presidential palace, donates 90% of his salary equivalent to 12,000 U.S. $ for charitable projects. His progressive domestic political measures include the legalization of marihuana, his foreign policy is fundamentally questioning the global principles of a growth driven market economy.

In the context of one of the world's worst crises after WW II, Mujica spoke to USA TODAY about the role his small country people can play to provide a safe haven to refugees.

"The excuses that 'We're poor' and 'We're not developed' — all of that is relative. You can always do something for people who are worse off," he said. "You hear the argument, 'But we have poor people, we have to help our poor people.' But our poor people aren't facing war, too."

Despite its economic limitations - Uruguay's gross national income per capita is around $14,000 - Mujica and his foreign minister Almegra set out to show that a country like Uruguay does its part in taking refugees from Syria.

Mujica's message? No excuses! Wealthier countries should also step up and provide safe havens to the more than 3 million Syrian refugees.

“We wanted to earn the right to tell the rest of the world that there are other solutions,” Mujica told USA Today.

19.Nov

November 19th, 2014

Jerusalem attacks were presaged

EDITOR:

Neelo Aysha Scholz

“If no one steps in to intervene, then the protesters in East Jerusalem will have no alternative to defending their dignity, and their holy places, by themselves,” was Rashid I. Khalidi’s warning in a blog post for Reuters, almost one week prior to the attack on the Jerusalem synagogue, yesterday. Five Israelis were killed and several others wounded in the terror attack on Tuesday morning in a synagogue in the western Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof.

Khalidi is Edward Said Professor and chair of Columbia University’s History Department in the US. His uncle, Husayn Fakhri al-Khalidi, was the last elected Arab mayor of Jerusalem. In the post, “Why Palestinians are back fighting on Jerusalem’s streets,” published on Nov 13, he highlighted Palestinian frustrations amidst escalating violence in Jerusalem, in recent weeks.

For one, the Haram al- Sharif, known to Jews as the Temple Mount is a contentious issue. “Religious activists... have openly statedthat they intend… to destroy its magnificent 7th century structures — the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock –and replace them with a new Jewish Temple.”

“Even Israel’s chief rabbi lashed out at Jews attempting to pray at the site suggesting that doing so should be ‘punishable by death’ as it could desecrate the ‘holi of holies’.”

Stirring religious sentiments aside, the larger picture of living under occupation since 1967 is a backdrop not to be overlooked. He describes the overbearing injustices that Arabs live with whilst the expansion of Jewish settlements all over occupied Arab East Jerusalem — "which are a violation of international law — have been lavishly subsidized and supported by the Israeli state, backed by its oppressive security services.”

He went on to say, “The governments of the United States and European countries bear a major responsibility for leaving Jerusalemites to their fate… vast sums of tax-deductible charitable donations from the United States support the settlements in East Jerusalem.”

In the light of the results of a nationwide social study on child homelessness the USA appear like a Third World country.

Last year, approximately 2.5 million children, which corresponds to one out of 30 children, experienced homelessness in the United States of America. The statistics based on figures from 2013 as well as the research of route causes have been carried out by American Institutes for Research, and have been released with the report "America’s Youngest Outcasts". Compared to the previous year 2012 the study depicts even the increase of homelessness by 8% on a national scale.

Major causes of homelessness for children in the U.S. include: the nation’s high poverty rate; lack of affordable housing across the nation; continuing impacts of the Great Recession; racial disparities; the challenges of single parenting; and the ways in which traumatic experiences, especially domestic violence, precede and prolong homelessness for families.

According to the authors of the study the impact of homelessness on the children, especially young children, "is devastating and may lead to changes in brain architecture that can interfere with learning, emotional self- regulation, cognitive skills, and social relationships."

"Without decisive action and the allocation of sufficient resources", the authors say, "the nation will fail to reach the stated federal goal of ending family homelessness by 2020, and child homelessness may result in a permanent Third World in America".

More than 35 million people are trapped in some form of modern day slavery, with 61% of those coming from just five countries.

Human trafficking, forced labour, sexual exploitation, forced marriage and other forms of slavery still happen in the 167 countries surveyed for a new report published today by The Walk Free Foundation.

The highest concentration of enslaved people were in India, which accounted for more than 14 million. Next was China (3.24 million), Pakistan (2.06 million), Uzbekistan (1.2 million), and Russia with 1.05 million.

Four percent of Mauritania's population is enslaved, the highest proportion in the study which covered 167 countries.

Walk Free Foundation founder and chairman Andrew Forrest said: “There is an assumption that slavery is an issue from a bygone era. Or that it only exists in countries ravaged by war and poverty.

“These findings show that modern slavery exists in every country. We are all responsible for the most appalling situations where modern slavery exists and the desperate misery it brings upon our fellow human beings.

“The first step in eradicating slavery is to measure it. And with that critical information, we must all come together – governments, businesses and civil society – to finally bring an end to the most severe form of exploitation.”

The Walk Free Foundation states its aim as eradicating slavery within a generation.

14.Nov

November 14th, 2014

Shell's false claims on Nigeria oil spills

EDITOR:

Murat Suner

Court documents revealed by Amnesty International today expose the fact that Shell has repeatedly made false claims about the size and impact of two major oil spills at Bodo in Nigeria in an attempt to minimize its compensation payments. The documents also show that Shell has known for years that its pipelines in the Niger Delta were old and faulty.

Further potential repercussions are that hundreds of thousands of people may have been denied or underpaid compensation based on similar underestimates of other spills.

“It’s outrageous that Shell has continued to blame the vast majority of its spills on saboteurs while knowing full well how bad a state its pipelines were in,” said Audrey Gaughran, Director for Global Issues at Amnesty International. “Amnesty International firmly believes Shell knew the Bodo data were wrong. If it did not it was scandalously negligent – we repeatedly gave them evidence showing they had dramatically underestimated the spills.”

The irrefutable evidence that Shell underestimated the Bodo spills emerged in a UK legal action brought by 15,000 people whose livelihoods were devastated by oil pollution in 2008. The court action has forced Shell to finally admit the company has underplayed the true magnitude of at least two spills and the extent of damage caused.

13.Nov

November 13th, 2014

US/China climate deal sends Republicans into a spin

EDITOR:

Vanessa Ellingham

Following on from our commentary on Tuesday which explained the big loss for climate change action brought on by US Republicans now ruling both houses of congress, a welcome surprise: China and the US have struck a deal which will see both countries lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The unexpected deal, revealed in Beijing yesterday by Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, is no mean feat for Obama and his Democrats, as it thwarts the Republican notion that Obama's proposed cuts to carbon pollution mean nothing if China refuses to do the same.

Suddenly his proposal means very much.

For the first time, China has committed to capping its output of carbon pollution, vowing to do so by 2030. Beijing also committed to increasing its use of zero-emission energy sources by 20% by the same deadline.

At the same time, the US agreed to double the pace of its own emissions cuts. They plan to reduce carbon pollution to between 26% and 28% below the level they were in 2005.

Despite the now massive gap in their argument, Republicans continue to complain about the deal, which they say will cost thousands of jobs and dump on Obama's successor - who they are, of course, hoping will be a Republican.

12.Nov

November 12th, 2014

Film: Abortion Advocacy at Sea

EDITOR:

Vanessa Ellingham

A new documentary tells the story of Women on Waves, an abortion advocacy group which operates at sea.

Dutch gynecologist Rebecca Gomperts started the project in 2000 with the aim of skirting anti-abortion laws by performing abortions in international waters, allowing her to operate under Dutch law to provide safe abortions while championing women's reproductive rights.

Fueling controversy wherever she sailed her ship - including missions to Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Morocco - Gomperts has refined her team's vision in its 14 years of operation.

Today Women on Waves focuses more on helping women access accurate, useful information about medical (ie. non-surgical) abortion, which is WHO-approved and has allowed women to take their lives back into their own hands irrespective of the legality of surgical abortion where they live.

In recent years Women on Waves has even been invited to countries where abortion is legal - including the US - demonstrating a need for better information channels to go along with the legalisation of abortion.

The film, aptly named Vessel, has been picking up awards at various international film festivals throughout 2014, and now the filmmakers are inviting people to screen the important documentary in their own communities.

The majority of scientific studies depict the human influence on climate change clearly. According to United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change "we are witnessing an unprecedented amount of carbon emission at least for the past 800,000 years."

However, the midterm elections in the U.S. illustrate that voters obviously don't care about scientific facts, nor do some some senators and congressmen recently elected.

Bill Maher shows examples of several candidates' statements on climate change and election results on HBO Real Time on November 7th, 2014.

For instance Bruce Braley from Iowa who stated that "climate disruption is real and absolutely needs to be addressed" is now out of office, while Joni Ernst saying "I have not seen proven proof (sic!) that it is entirely man-made..." took over Braley's place.

Others, like James Inhofe even dare to believe that God is in charge, not humans. While former Head of Committee for Environmental Affairs Barbara Boxer lost her chair after elections thinks that "manmade climate change is a planetary emergency and one of the most important challenges facing humankind" her successor in office Inhofe said: Go's still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what he is doing in the climate is to me outrages."

Five years after the climate summit in Copenhagen the electoral shift towards a republican majority in the U.S. parliament and senate, the series of actions to reduce carbon pollution as President Obama announced in his speech a year ago at the United Nations, seem to be doubtful.

Last night in Berlin hundreds of thousands turned out to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a moving, symbolic tribute covering today's front pages around the world.

25 years ago similar images of crowds in Berlin made the front pages of international newspapers. The Berlin Wall had fallen, taking with it the Iron Curtain. Freedom at last for millions of Eastern Europeans, oppressed for decades by totalitarianism in all its ugly forms.

As founding member of Human Rights Watch Jeri Laber puts it, "those of us who were privileged to work with the dissident human rights defenders in Eastern Europe remember the high hopes we all had for these new democracies."

"Having experienced totalitarian control over every aspect of their lives, the new government leaders would surely take care to protect freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly, and the protection of minorities and dissident voices within their societies."

She says, and I would agree, that 2014 is a good time to take stock. Gorbachev actually said the same thing this weekend - but with different reasoning.

What do Russia's advances in Ukraine this year mean for the world order? What about Romania and Bulgaria, where democracy struggles to exist against former communist leaders who stole back power as soon as the revolutions began?

What about the rest of Europe, which maintains a border many times longer than the Berlin Wall, keeping out desperate asylum seekers begging to be let in? Erecting a fence to keep people out certainly compares with building a wall to keep them in.

Conservative estimates say at least 30,000 people have died in the Mediterranean Sea fleeing conflict, violence and discrimination for a chance at a better life in Europe.

Commemorating meaningful steps in human history must be extended to ensuring we are also continuing to honour the principles of the brave souls we gather to celebrate. Let's rededicate ourselves to their spirit.